Minoru Iwata threw a three-hitter for his second shutout of the season as the Hanshin Tigers beat the Chunichi Dragons 4-0 on Wednesday.
Iwata (5-3) struck out 12 batters and walked one, keeping the Chunichi lineup off-balance with a mix of his fastball and change-up at Koshien Stadium.
Takashi Toritani had an RBI double to open the scoring against Kenta Asakura (9-7) in the first and Lin Wei Zhu had a bases-clearing triple in the same inning. Cleanup-hitter Tony Blanco struck out three times for Chunichi.